Fans of Jo In-sung, you’ll have to wait a bit longer to see him in his big-screen comeback because he’s just dropped the futuristic thriller film he’d signed on to do years ago, Fist Fighting.

Reportedly, he’s leaving the production because of scheduling conflicts, which seems like a fair reason since this movie has been in the works for ages—Jo In-sung first joined in 2011, and soon afterward Lee Yeon-heehopped aboard as his co-star. But news about progress has been scarce and I’d been wondering what was to come of the supposedly large-scale blockbuster. I suspect money is the primary factor; budget issues were cited as one reason for the filming delays. And you know it’s not a good sign when your star, who has waited over two years for you to get up and running, says he’s gotta go because of all the other things he’s got scheduled when he doesn’t have another movie or drama lined up yet.

Fist Fighting is a sci-fi action story set in a near-future city (in the year 2050) that stars a young hero who refuses to stand idly by in the face of injustice. He and the mysterious girl he falls for happen upon a village that comes under attack by more powerful forces, and together they stand up to fight the oppressors. A David and Goliath story of sorts, then, only with sci-fi and supernatural powers to liven up the mix.

The project sounds like it could’ve made for an entertaining film, particularly in the hands of Welcome to Dongmakgol’s director Park Kwang-hyun. The movie is a joint Korean-Chinese production with over a third of the production budget coming from Chinese investors with a goal of being widely released there. But it’ll have to be without Jo In-sung—who is, let’s face it, much of the draw.

Slightly off topic – I was half-way through Frozen Flower (yeah, do need a few days to finish a movie) and was thoroughly shocked at the first explicit scene that popped up. I expected some complicated liaison but really, I cannot see Jo in Sung, Joo Ji Mo & Song Ji Hyo in the same light EVER again…

@Momosa
I had the same reaction. I started A Frozen Flower a week ago and still have the second half to go. I’m just shocked at the explicitness of those scenes…especially since dramas are my main source of exposure to Korean culture. It’s like my world’s been turned upside down lol. I don’t get why there needs to be so many explicit scenes but I definitely don’t look at those actors the same way. Although, strangely, Joo Ji Mo seems a lot more attractive to me lol.

A shame, I liked that actor, but I feel he’s doing the right thing. If the movie isn’t going anywhere for two years and that there’s money stuff going on, it’s safer to drop it.

Personnally I don’t understand what’s the deal with the explicit scenes in A Frozen Flower. Why would you watch the movie if explicit scenes shock you? Anyway, it did not shock me and I did love the movie.

However, I wish we would have more “in-between” movies & dramas. In many dramas I’ve seen, I wanted to yell at my screen because we either didn’t get any real kiss (Tamra Island, Faith…) or because they kissed like awkward ironing boards. Of course I don’t ask Kdramas to do smoochies everywhere like in American series, because seriously, those either bore me to death or annoy me even more. But can’t we have more dramas like Queen In-Hyun’s man?

For most Asian people of course they will shock, esp when they doesn’t watch much korean movie, I’m shock too when i first watch it n didn’t dare to continue but after watch some korean movie, I’m not shock anymore because that kind of scene is in many korean movie

The shock part was more like great surprise followed by disturbed and maybe a bit annoyed (I didn’t pay attn. at the adult-rated part). It was more on how the scenes were presented rather than the scene itself. The shock of it was it popped up when you least expect it (and this is not horror, mind you, ok maybe similar).

There were decent reviews though, I personally think some of those explicit scenes were unnecessary (like, do we need a 3-4min long love-making scene, legs up, legs down, yawn), crassly made being forced upon us. I didn’t at a moment feel they were beautiful moments between them. I just wished they would hurry up before getting caught.

I get your point and Eny’s, thank you for answering.
I did not really make myself clear I guess, because when I said I didn’t get why so many people were shocked, I was thinking of people here on Dramabeans. This makes me think it would be very interesting if we had something like a map somewhere on the site so we could place ourselves. This way we would see where people on Dramabeans come from. I’m pretty sure it’s from all over the world!

Maybe the other reasons why I wasn’t shocked where also that I already knew that these scenes were in that movie when I watched it (it was explicitly rated “for adults” in the summary), and that the actors’ organs were never actually shown so to me it was ok, not porn. That’s only my opinion though.

A next project for Zo In-Seong should be the character of Pilot in the series SHOGUN, adapted, of course, to a Korean boy who is shipwrecked in Japan, rescued and adopted by a recluse. After a decade of seclusion and training by his adopted father, a reknown swordsman of Japan, he enters the real world of the Shogun.